IV Insanity and Dreams interpret her surroundings or events incorrectly, but within her (skewed) worldview, her actions are often logical Neither should you confuse insanity with comic relief: an insane character can be entertaining but not a constant subject of ridicule or the butt of every joke Your character should enrich the game rather than detract from it—the way any character does Also be aware that while your character’s view of reality may be distorted, it is also possible (even likely) that due to her contact with the Mythos, her view may be closer to the actual truth For example, a person who sees things or hears voices that no one else can see or hear may seem insane, but the person’s condition could be caused by a permanent alteration to her brain that allows her to see or hear real entities in a parallel dimension to our own! Most importantly, there is no way for anyone to confirm whether the voices and hallucinations are real, short of acquiring the insanity themselves Fantasy Insanity As noted earlier in this chapter, the insanities listed above are not intended to reflect real-world mental illnesses, but are instead supernaturallyinduced conditions that afflict imaginary heroes in play They are included strictly for thematic purposes, as the descent into madness is an inescapable part of a Mythos game Considering that mental illness is a real world affliction that many suffer from and does not necessarily present in an obvious way, it is extremely important that GMs be aware of and considerate of players when it comes to this topic If a player is uncomfortable with one of the insanities discussed, not use it in your game It is always incumbent upon the GM to be cognizant of player needs and tailor their games appropriately Consider David Cronenberg’s The Fly (spoiler alert) The main character, who is genetically half-fly, wants to return to his human condition, and comes up with a plan: he’ll place his girlfriend, pregnant with his child, into the teleporter and merge with her The resulting monstrosity will have three times as many human genes as a fly, and thus make him far more human This is perfectly logical, yet horrifying and certainly not something a sane person would Second Degree characters often behave as villains, though this is not necessarily intentional They can be tricked into doing the right thing by other players who pander to their madness or try to get them to rise above it Third Degree: Stark Raving Sometimes a character has been driven so insane that the player is forced to relinquish control to the GM The sorceress is cowering in a corner, clawing at the air and babbling in an unknown language, or the paladin throws away his weapons and runs blindly through the forest shrieking Typically, this extreme madness is only a temporary condition, and eventually the player can regain some control Of course, in some cases, this can indeed be permanent, in which case the character becomes a GM tool, and is retired from active play The player should create a new character to continue the adventure 99